James L. Jones

James L. Jones, 2003.R. D. Ward/U.S. Department of Defense

James L. Jones, in full James Logan Jones, Jr.
(born Dec. 19, 1943, Kansas City, Mo., U.S.), U.S. general who served as commandant of the United States Marine Corps (USMC; 1999–2003), as supreme allied commander of NATO forces in Europe (2003–06), and as national security adviser (2009–10) in the administration of Pres. Barack Obama.

Jones was born in the United States but spent much of his childhood in France, where his father sold farm equipment. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1966, and he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the USMC the following year. Jones deployed to Vietnam in October 1967, and he spent a year as a platoon commander. Other assignments followed the completion of his tour in Vietnam, and by 1977 Jones had been promoted to major.

In 1979 Jones was assigned to serve as USMC liaison to the U.S. Senate, where he worked under U.S. Navy Capt. John McCain. After graduating from the National War College in 1985, he held a number of positions within the USMC headquarters staff. In 1991 Jones commanded elements of the Marine expeditionary unit that participated in Operation Provide Comfort, a multinational humanitarian mission that sought to aid Iraq’s Kurdish population in the days after the Persian Gulf War. He was promoted to brigadier general in early 1992, and in July of that year he was named deputy director of U.S. forces in Europe, where he participated in peacekeeping operations in Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Two years later he returned to the United States, where he earned his second star in 1994 and his third star in 1996. Jones added a fourth star in 1999, prior to his appointment as commandant of the USMC. In 2003 he was named supreme allied commander of NATO forces in Europe, the first Marine to hold that position. After retiring from the USMC in 2007, he was named president of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, a think tank associated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In 2008 Jones was selected by Obama to serve as national security adviser, a post he assumed following Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009. During his tenure Jones played an influential role in the administration’s policies concerning the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He notably supported the decisions to increase troop levels in Afghanistan and to draw down soldiers in Iraq. In 2010 Jones stepped down as national security adviser.